Nomades d’Alanui honored at Pitti Uomo

In just one year, Alanui is already carried by some 120 multi-brand boutiques, including 35 in Italy and retailers such as Colette and Bon Marché in Paris. That is a good track record for a unisex, timeless brand of just oversized cardigans that go for 2,400 to over 3,000 euros each!

Nicolò et Carlotta Oddi - FashionNetWork.com (ph DM)The meteoric success is no doubt partly due the duo behind it: Italian beauty Carlotta Oddi (33), who works as a fashion editor for Vogue Japan together with Anna Dello Russo; and her handsome brother Nicolò (37), an Italian entrepreneur, who previously worked in the family business.

The two Italians hail from Monza, a rich industrial city in Lombardy, and opened their cardigan business in March 2016. It all started with a gift, an old sweater from the Pasadena flea market near Los Angeles, which Nicolò gave to his sister. She threw it into her suitcase and left for the Hawaiian Islands. Upon her return, she raved to her brother about all the many ways she wore this cardigan and to which she is meanwhile deeply attached. And so Alanui, which means long journey in Hawaiian, was born.

The label proposes just one product, cardigan sweaters, but each one styled with unique, different patterns and embroidery: artisan handmade, roomy sweaters, no buttons but with colored belts to close. The cardigans cut a voluminous silhouette. The style is rather ethnic with fringed edges and native American Indian motifs.

An Alanui sweater - Pitti Immagine

The material is ultra-fine cashmere produced by a venerable Tuscan company that supplies luxury labels. The Alanui jacquard cardigan can be worn while boating, hiking in the mountains or in town like a jacket.

“We do a lot of research to find new patterns and techniques. This is the most exciting part. This is an ongoing work,” Carlotta Oddi told FashionNetwork.com during a special presentation to the press and buyers on Thursday during Pitti Uomo.